"We are competing in an environment of very strong major bank players. If we don't remain competitive, St George won't exist," bank's Chief Executive Gail Kelly told its shareholders at its recent annual general meeting in Sydney, a report in Sydney Morning Herald said on Friday.
Earlier the Australian Finance Sector Union had urged St George's Bank shareholders to reject sending jobs to India. The bank had earlier this year moved over 70 jobs from Sydney to Adelaide to Bangalore.
Deloitte published a survey last year showing that 57 per cent of respondents in the financial sector are either involved, or planning to become involved, with offshoring jobs. That number was set to grow this year, the report qouted Warren Green, Deloitte's co-leader for financial services, as saying.
For those companies which send some of their operations to low-wage nations, such as India, China or the Philippines, savings can run to between 20 per cent and 40 per cent of comparable Australian costs, Green said.
In November, chairman of Commonwealth Bank of Australia, John Schubert, had said the bank had evaluated sending service jobs overseas. However, its did not proceed.
Rival Westpac had said it would send about 500 back-office jobs to India also.
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